ThriveOn King: Redevelopment begins on new community hub

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A long time ago, your parents or grandparents may have shopped at the old Gimbels Schuster's department store on 3rd and Garfield in Milwaukee. 

Well, 3rd Street is now MLK Drive, and on Thursday, work started on the conversion of the old Gimbels store. 

Crews removed metal cladding from the historic building that will become what they call the ThriveOn King building. It will house the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, community programs for the Medical College of Wisconsin, apartments and more.

"The metal cladding and the fake facade preserved a historic building that's on the historic registry," said Greg Wesley, ThriveOn Collaboration co-chair. "And we're gonna bring it back to its original state externally and then also internally modernize it in a way that the community will be proud of."

The goal is for ThriveOn King to become a hub for three neighborhoods -- Halyard Park, Harambee and Brewers Hill.